The Fall Guy Moment That 'Deeply' Moved Hannah Waddingham [SXSW 2024]
Hollywood stunt people are a breed apart. They look at a skyscraper, and wonder what floor from which they could plummet onto an airbag. They encounter a ravine, and instantly want to hop astride a motorcycle and jump it. They see a fellow stunt performer get blasted with fire extinguishers after being set ablaze, and think to themselves, "I could've stayed on fire longer than that." They're wild folk, and they can make the kind of movie magic you'll savor for a lifetime.
For movie lovers, stunt people like Dar Robinson, Vic Armstrong, and Evelyn Finley are as legendary as the stars they doubled. Among casual moviegoers, however, they aren't nearly as appreciated as they should be. So when films like Richard Rush's "The Stunt Man," Hal Needham's "Hooper," or David Leitch's forthcoming "The Fall Guy" (based on the classic 1980s TV series starring Lee Majors) crash into theaters, you hope more people realize just how integral these daredevils are to the greatness of our favorite movies (and that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science will finally add an Oscars category for excellence in stunt performance).
According to reviews from the movie's 2024 SXSW Film Festival premiere (including a rave from /Film's Jacob Hall), "The Fall Guy" is a raucous, surprisingly sentimental love letter to stunt performers. As an ardent admirer of these hellions, I can't wait to see it myself. Until then, it's heartening to hear from the picture's cast and crew that, even though they've been around more than a few film sets in their careers, they've gained a new respect for the people who, per the show's theme song, "made Redford such a star."
How falling from a helicopter can bring a family together
During a post-screening Q&A at SXSW, "Ted Lasso" star Hannah Waddingham shared a stunt memory from the shoot that profoundly moved her. It involved a fall from a helicopter executed by Troy Lindsay Brown, a legacy stunt man whose father, Bob Brown, has been taking his lumps on movies and television series for almost 40 years (his earliest stunt credit on IMDb is for 1985's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun").
Per Waddingham:
"When you see Troy falling from the helicopter and down onto the airbag ... his father in real life is a stunt man, and he was there waiting for his son on the airbag. It really moved me deeply. That's not something ... every time I've seen it, these guys at [87North Productions], they have the kind of caliber of people who are the finest stunt men and women in the world. And to see him falling and his dad to be waiting for him was just ... a parallel of how the film had been a complete family on every level in every department. It just really made an impact on me that day."
This is such a sweet story, one that drives home how important it is for these professionals to not just trust each other, but love one another as family. While directors like Leitch and 87North co-founder Chad Stahelski (who discussed his love of fight choreography last year with /Film's Vanessa Armstrong) take pride in filming invigoratingly inventive practical stunts, there are some filmmakers who treat them like cattle. So they must always, without question, have each other's back.
And this aspect of their job became even more poignant when Leitch added a little more detail to Waddingham's recollection.
The family airbag
In terms of height, the helicopter fall was a personal best for Troy, so it was obviously wonderful for his father to be there to see it. But it wasn't just about the fall. It was also about the airbag.
According to Leitch, Bob had previously done his own record-breaking fall onto this particular airbag. It was for the stunt community's Taurus Awards, and not only did Bob plummet from a record height, he did so while on fire. So it was important for Troy (who was not on fire) to land on the same inflatable cushion. There was just one problem. "[Bob] had actually sold it to a group in South Africa," said Leitch. "So we sourced it and got it back up here so Troy could train with it, and we used it [for real], but also as a prop in the movie."
And here's the big "awwww" moment: after being greeted post-fall by Bob, Troy signed his name next to where his father scribbled his signature however many years ago.
Stunt people are just the best. So get out and show them some love when "The Fall Guy" hits theaters on May 3, 2024.